Remarks by Secretary Tom Ridge at Treasury Day Ceremonies

Release Date: 02/25/03 00:00:00

U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Office of the Press Secretary
February 25, 2003
For Immediate Release

Lisner Auditorium
Washington, D.C.

4:14 P.M. EST

SECRETARY RIDGE:  Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests all.  First of all, I want to comment, the Deputy Attorney General was kind enough to talk about my work schedule.  But I must tell you that he keeps a very rigorous and tiring schedule himself, and he was due about 10 minutes ago at the White House for another meeting, so he asked to be excused.  And I'm just glad I had an opportunity to share the stage with him a little bit and to thank him publicly for his service.

I couldn't help but think, first of all, with Secretary Snow, that when I was governor in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, you and I had occasion to do some business together because obviously at that time, we were interested in railroads and mergers and acquisitions.  And little did we think several years ago we'd be back on the same stage under these circumstances.  And I just want you to know that it's a great pleasure for me, not just on a professional level, but on a personal level to continue a working relationship with you. Welcome. We really feel good about that.

I've got to tell my good friend Commissioner Bonner, who I've had the privilege of working with as Assistant to the President for Homeland Security as we were working on some smart border agreements with our friends in Canada and Mexico, how much I admire his -- his vision for Customs, his advocacy on behalf of the men and women that work there, and how forward leaning he has been during the transition process to do everything he can to make sure the transition is as smooth as possible.  And I know Asa Hutchinson, the Under Secretary, agrees with me on that, and we publicly acknowledge the work that you've done.

I would also tell you that the rebellion that you're talking about started in Pennsylvania, and we still don't like it when you tax our alcohol and our cigarettes.  (Laughter.) Probably won't go to such extremes if you do it another time, but just a little footnote in history there. Pennsylvania has got a lot of history, of course.

And to Director Ralph Basham, when you think of the new environment that the world is confronted with as a result of what occurred on September 11th, and you think the role that our President and Vice President have taken and will continue to take for years if not decades to come in our effort to keep together a coalition to combat international terrorism, there will be no more important mission -- and you've got many important and critical responsibilities, but there will be nothing more important than to protect the President and the Vice President of our country and their families. And I welcome the opportunity to work with you on that critical issue and so many others. Mr. Director, thank you.

And I also know that one of our tasks is also to train the law enforcement community, both the local and the state, the federal and international, but to develop continuous educational opportunities for the men and women you train, and you train so well down there in Georgia.  So, Connie, it's a pleasure to have the opportunity to work in a more formal way, recognizing what you've done in the past and your ability to ramp up and the extraordinary job that you've done in the past 15 or 16 months with the graduation of 37,000 men and women to help support local and state law enforcement, to help us combat international terrorism.

I would say to you, Director Buckles, you're going, as I think you well know, into an agency whose leadership, starting with the Attorney General, and Attorney General Ashcroft and Deputy Attorney General Thompson have been at the heart of our domestic effort to keep us safe and to combat terrorism.  And it's one good organization being merged with another great organization.  And, together, you'll add strength and vitality to the Department of Justice, and I congratulate you on that as well.  

And, Monsignor, it is very important on occasions like this that we do take a little time to remember those who have not only served before us but who did make that ultimate sacrifice.  I don't think people understand, unless you are in the law enforcement business.  And as a former assistant district attorney and someone who has worked with my own law enforcement agency, the great state police in Pennsylvania, but knowing so many of the municipal and law enforcement community, when you put on a law enforcement uniform or public service uniform, the whole family puts it on.  It's not necessarily 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and rarely is.

And for those on the streets and on our borders and in areas where we ask them to secure America, secure their communities, you're never quite sure, if you're the spouse and the family member, whether mom or dad are going to come home that night.  It's a tough job.  Unfortunately, tragic circumstances remind us of the vulnerability and the possibilities that these men and women face every day.  So I am glad as part of this ceremony, as we transfer organizations, that we remember that a lot of folks have gone before us that have made that sacrifice.

I just want to thank you, Secretary Snow, for the opportunity to just share with you a few remarks.  Because I know in this challenging time of creating a new department that is legally effective as of March 1st, 2003, that men and women of the agencies that are being transitioned into the Department of Homeland Security  understand that I know that it's not a beginning; it's really a continuation of decades if not centuries of service.  And they need to understand, whether they're in Customs or the Secret Service or the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, that I admire and appreciate -- as does our management team -- their history.  Their history will not be lost on us, because there are lessons we can draw from it and apply to the new department.

We appreciate their culture.  We understand that, as we merge some of these different units together, we have to have a sensitivity as to how business was conducted in the past and, again, some lessons learned, as we work together to do a better job and build even more capacity, do business differently in the future.  But we understand that tradition, we understand that history, we understand that culture.  And I think the ties that bind -- and everybody says this is an extraordinary task, it's a difficult task, it can't be done.  How do you bring 175,000 people together?  

And I said, I believe in my own mind that they're already unified, because every single one of these men and women, every single day, even before we had the notion of creating a new Department of Homeland Security, have been going to work every day for days, years, decades, in some cases centuries, in their own way protecting the homeland.  And so at the end of the day, already in their hearts and their minds, is this notion that we have a job to do, and our job, with very specific responsibilities, is part of a broader responsibility that the national government has working with the states and locals to ensure the safety and the security of the people in this country.

And there is not a single individual that's coming into the new Department of Homeland Security that needs any instruction on how to do it.  Because they've been doing it a long time, and they've been doing it before the Department of Homeland Security was created.  So I'm very proud to be associated with the men and women that are being merged into this new entity.  For the first time, all these men and women will be working in a department whose primary mission is homeland security.  But we understand they have many, many other missions, and they do them all well.  And Congress and the President, the American people, want us to continue that they're all done well -- and they will be.  Because that culture and that history and that tradition says, service is at the heart of what we do.

And these men and women have been providing that service for a long time.  Because they may wear different uniforms and they have different backgrounds.  But at the end of the day, it's the same team, same fight.  And we're unified with that notion that working together in this new department, we can do an even better job of protecting the homeland and securing the liberty and freedoms that we enjoy and often take for granted as citizens of the greatest country known to mankind.

So it's a great pleasure, it's an honor for me and for our management team, and Under Secretary Asa Hutchinson is with us, and I think I can speak for Asa and the rest of us, who have been given the opportunity to work with Customs and Secret Service and FLETC and the Coast Guard and so many other agencies that move in. The INS is moving in. Change the names, but the INS, great men and women working over there.  Federal Emergency Management Agency, all who have been inspired and called to public service and have been working at the business, their slice of protection, their slice of security, the responsibility that they've taken upon themselves a long time ago.  Our job is to empower them and equip them and train them so they can do a better job, to build new capacities by putting them together and by working with them to make sure that, every single day, we get stronger and safer in this country.

So I'm convinced that this country is up to the task, and I'm certainly convinced that the 175,000 men and women with whom I work are up to the task.  We need candor among the leadership of these entities that are coming in, we expect it.  We need to communicate constantly.  We need to work out and resolve some of the predictable, unavoidable challenges associated with merging 175,000 people into one new department, but we'll get it done.  And the reason we'll get it done is because, at the end of the day, everybody knows that the decisions they make on a day-to-day basis close the gaps and make us safer and more secure against potential terrorist activity.

These men and women have to be right over a billion times a year.  We calculated, as we took a look at the number of ships that come into the ports, the number of airline passengers that get off the planes, the number of cargo containers, the number of people that come across our borders, we've got to be right about a billion-three times a year.  And I think these men and women -- I know that they're going to do everything they possibly can to protect their country, protect their community and protect their families.

So on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security and all of us associated with working to help secure this country and preserve the freedoms and liberties that we enjoy, I want to say thank you to you, Secretary Snow, I want to say thank you to the leaders of the new departments and agencies that are coming into our department.  And I just want to pledge to the men and women that work within these new departments and agencies, that job one is protecting the homeland.  

And I think the President and the Congress have vested in the right people, 175,000 strong, this very important mission.  Because I know every single day, they will strive to do their best.  In working together, I'm confident we can get the job done.

So, again, I thank you for the opportunity to participate in this ceremony, and wish you all the very best.

You know, from time to time speakers are willing to say -- and I do it all the time myself -- God bless America.  But I think from time to time we also have to say he has.  

And one of the blessings that has been bestowed upon this country is that we've got a lot of talented people who come to work every single day, who try to make a difference.  A lot of those people are going to end up in the Department of Homeland Security, and I'll be proud to work with them.  I know Secretary Hutchinson will, and everybody else will as well.  

So thank you very, very much, and make it a great day.  (Applause.)

4:27 P.M. EST

END

 

 

This page was last modified on 02/25/03 00:00:00